California passed its counselor licensure in October, 2009, the last state in the country to do so. An individual licensed under this law will be designated Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. There will be a grandparenting period of time for those counselors who have already finished their graduate degree. Further information about the law and licensure requirements can be found at the website: www.caccl.org/requirements.html.

For grandparenting purposes, degrees issued prior to January 1, 1996 must consist of a minimum of 30 graduate hours and have covered 6 of the 9 core academic areas. Degrees issued after January 1, 1996 must be at least 48 hours in length and have covered 7 of the 9 core areas. In addition to the graduate degree, instruction in a number of areas is required before licensure. A survey course in psychopharmacology is required as well as contact hours of instruction in such areas as alcoholism and substance abuse, human sexuality, spousal or partner abuse, child abuse, assessment, and several other areas. Two years of full-time supervised counseling experience post-degree is necessary.

Individuals hoping to grandparent to licensure must also achieve passing scores on the National Counselor Exam or Certified Rehabilitation Counselor Exam, and the National Clinical Mental Health Counselor Exam and a California jurisprudence and ethics exam.

Individuals who begin graduate study before August 1, 2012 must graduate with a 48 credit hour program which includes a supervised practicum and coursework in 7 of the 9 core areas. An additional 12 credit hours must be earned in such areas as specific treatment issues, special populations, assessment, clinical interventions, and other areas. A minimum of 3,000 hours of post-degree supervised counseling experience is necessary. At least 1,700 hours must be in direct contact with individuals or groups in a clinical setting and 150 hours must be in a hospital or community mental health setting. Exam requirements are the same as for those grandparenting.

A 60 hour graduate program is necessary for those who begin graduate studies after August 1, 2012.

Now that the counselor licensure law has passed, the next step will be for rules to be written to implement the law. This will occur during 2010. The grandparenting period is expected to begin January 1, 2011. For more details about the requirements and updates as to the progress of implementation, visit the website: www.caccl.org/requirements.html.

Many universities in California allow for the completion of the National Counselor Exam (NCE) for their graduate students. For those academic programs that are accredited by Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), students who successfully complete the NCE will become National Certified Counselors at graduation if they apply for that credential. Following graduation, they can use the NCE results for licensure. Many universities also use the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE) as an exit exam. Because both exams are based on the eight core CACREP areas, preparing for one facilitates preparation for the other. The following universities have an agreement with NBCC to administer the NCE to their students:

California State University Fresno
California State University Sacramento
San Francisco State University
University of San Diego